"The Afghan soldiers and special forces of international troops carried out a search operation in Kandahari village of Chardara district Friday night. As a result five rebels, including a local commander, were killed," Haroon Aryahenejad told Xinhua.

He said 10 other militants have been detained by the joint forces.

In the meantime, the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) in a statement released to media on Saturday confirmed the raid, adding that Afghan and coalition forces detained numerous suspected insurgents and killed five heavily armed people during an operation in Kunduz province on Friday.

Taliban militants fighting Afghan and NATO-led troops have yet to make comments.